


purple

by yudons



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Love Confessions, M/M, Purple, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23558623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yudons/pseuds/yudons
Summary: Taeil knew it had always been Johnny, but apparently his soulmate is a little dense.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Nakamoto Yuta, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Moon Taeil/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 6
Kudos: 99





	purple

This work can be read separately OR you read the [social media au on twitter](https://twitter.com/_yudons/status/1154450387518275584) first. Either way you'll understand :) 

Also this is for Mint because she wanted me to write something about johnil so there you go :)

***************

Johnny knew the music streaming out of the hidden boxes in _PURPLE_ was mostly some random YouTube relaxing or coffee shop playlist. But every time he visited his best friend, Taeil made sure to put on some tunes Johnny loved. This time, Jhené Aiko greeted him with her soft voice as he opened the door to the rather successful coffee shop. He smiled at Taeil behind the counter and waved. “Just sit down, I’ll bring you the usual and then we can have a talk.” Taeil said, already starting to prepare Johnnys black coffee with his favourite beans. He sat down in front of the display window, facing the little café. PURPLE was mesmerizing. It was full of plants and little decoration elements Taeil found during his weekly strolls over the local flea markets. Johnnys favourite corner in which he was sitting right now had a wooden shelf right above his head. It was parted in four little cubes and each one contained a little cactus. The smallest of cactus you could imagine. On top of the shelf sat a white orchid and its roots surrounded the whole shelf, nearly reaching down to the floor. The amount of sunlight flooding in through the big display window made it grow incredibly fast, because Johnny knew the plant was only almost two months old. He had given it to Taeil on his birthday. The heat of august made Johnny think about switching seats, when Taeil rolled down the blinds right next to him. Much better.

He placed the drink in front of Johnny and sat down next to him. “ _PURPLE_ has been awfully quiet since Lucas and Jaehyun left.” Taeil nodded, almost lost in his thoughts while looking at his best friend. Lucas had graduated and started working at a company in Seoul and Jaehyun was about to become a pretty successful musician. “It is. The new workers are … nice. I mean, I wouldn’t have hired them otherwise, but it’s not the same.” Johnny nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. He only ever ordered it at PURPLE, other coffee shops just didn’t get it right, even with detailed instructions of himself. He was about to answer, when Taeil interrupted him. “I met someone the other day.”

Johnnys black coffee flowed back into the cup when he let go of the straw. He didn’t know why his heart started aching after Taeils last sentence. He looked at his friend, blinking multiple times, not knowing what to say. “You … you what?” Johnny didn’t know what was wrong with him. He should be happy about it, shouldn’t he? Taeil was his best friend and of course he had been counting down the days until he would finally meet someone. But he never thought it would happen this fast.

“I met someone three weeks ago and I want you to meet him.” Well he definitely didn’t expect that. Johnnys mouth was still slightly open, his eyebrows raised in disbelieve.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Is it that absurd? Me meeting someone? A stranger asking me out on a date?” Johnny shook his head mechanically. “Of course not! I just … didn’t expect it … also why didn’t you tell me? It’s been three weeks already.” He furrowed his eyebrows. This wasn’t fair, he could’ve at least warned him.

“I wanted to see where this was going. I’m not going to introduce him to my friends without being 100% sure that this is what I want.” Taeil has been calm the whole time, arms on the table, his fingers intertwined. Johnny on the other hand was about to sweat. He felt the heat creeping up his neck, his hands getting sweaty and the speed of his heartbeat was increasing rapidly. He felt like Taeil just told him his favourite dog died. Taeils mouth tightened. “You don’t like it.”

“No, oh my god no don’t get me wrong! I’m … I’m happy!” that was a lie and Johnny knew it. He couldn’t tell him the truth because he didn’t even know what the truth was. Why was he not d’accord with it? It’s not like he had feelings for his best friend, it’s just that … After the divorce, Johnny’s life hadn’t been the same. He was still close with Doyoung, of course. They didn’t separate because of the fights, they separated because of the lack of love. And also because of Doyoungs soulmate, Yuta. A few months ago Doyoung had realized that his dreams about Japan weren’t memories of what Johnny had seen while living in Tokyo for a while when he was younger. And as chance would have it, Doyoung met Yuta some time later. They immediately became close and after a while, Doyoung and Johnny decided to end things. It left Johnny with a huge problem. The so called “soulmate dreams” are the only thing connecting you and your significant other. You would dream about their lives or what they had been going through during the day, what they had been thinking of, their problems, feelings and emotions. Sometimes it was sweet, like in the case of Jungwoo and Lucas. There was no bad blood, they didn’t have to suffer during the night because their soulmate got dragged through hell and back. They found each other very early and even though they had their problems with Lucas ex, they made it through. Then there’s Jaehyun, who can’t remember if he ever even had a dream about his soulmate. This means, his counterpart must’ve died very young. There was only darkness apart from his regular dreams. Winwin didn’t care much about who his real soulmate was and he fell in love with Jaehyun. They had been dating for almost one and a half years now. All of this sounded way too fairytale-y for Johnny to believe in. Doyoung broke his heart and even though he liked Yuta a lot, it still hurt whenever he looked at them. Almost every single one of his friends has gotten their happy ending, except for him. And of course Ten. Ten was the first one to find his soulmate, yet they painfully had to break up because of inconsolable differences. Ten was going through hell and back right now and nobody could help him. Not even his work distracted him enough anymore.

And then there was Johnny, absolutely confused and hopeless regarding his soulmate. It must’ve been someone close to him because he often saw himself in his dreams. But who? His career path didn’t make things easier either since he was hosting a pretty successful radio broadcast and worked with several different people every day. Just when he was about to feel even worse, his best friend decided to date a guy he didn’t even tell him about. Things couldn’t get better.

“It’s just that …” Johnny left his sentence unfinished and looked into Taeils eyes. The older didn’t react at all. “Just what? Are you jealous?” Something in Taeils look changed, but it was too quick for Johnny to notice. “Don’t be ridiculous! Why would I be jealous?”

Taeil sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Oh Johnny.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Anyway, he’ll be joining us today.” “Oh thank god it’s a man, I almost thought you’re playing for the het team now.” Johnny rolled his eyes and Taeil smiled. “Now you’re the one being ridiculous.” The doorbell rang and Taeil looked at the door. “Work is calling. I’ll see you tonight?” Taeil raised his eyebrows and Johnny got lost in his dark brown eyes for a second. That had happened so many times before but Taeil definitely had the prettiest eyes he had ever seen.

“Ye-Yeah, at 8pm! Tell your boyfriend he shouldn’t be late!” Taeils smile widened but it somehow looked fake to Johnny. He should definitely get his eyes checked, since Taeil obviously was happy. He met someone new, oh dear, he was probably in LOVE with this person and here was Johnny, thinking Taeil looked sad while smiling. Taeil showed him an obscene gesture with his hand and disappeared behind the counter. He looked happy when he beamed at the customers this time.

After this, Johnny finished his coffee in no time, browsing the web looking for a way to categorize his feelings. He was a radio host; he was used to talking about his feelings. About love. Hell, he even shared his own heart breaking story about losing his college love to a random Japanese guy. This was actually the most successful episode, since he invited Doyoung and they were talking about the old times and what exactly happened. It gave the people something to hold on to when they were feeling down. They’ll fall in love, no matter if it’s their soulmate or another person. Johnnys second most successful broadcast episode was about Winwin and Jaehyun. He didn’t like using his friends for his own fame, but it worked and to be honest, they were more than happy to hear their own voices on the radio anyway. He always wanted to get Ten on the show. His soulmate broke up with him because they were fighting about moving almost every day and he accused Ten of pressuring him into leaving his work and home behind. Ten never properly recovered.

Every time Johnny visited him, Ten looked tired, heavy bags under his eyes and as pale as never before. Ten doesn’t go out anymore. If it weren’t for their weekly dinner dates, he’d probably never leave his home. Work was also a risky topic at the moment, since Ten was threatened with dismissal at work. He couldn’t concentrate on creating new choreographies and teaching them properly to Dream, so the agency already sent him a dissuasion. Things weren’t looking good for him. At night his soulmate’s dreams and anxiousness kept him awake. He was feeling as terrible as Ten himself. He didn’t dare to sleep and of course he assured his friends everything was alright and that he was getting enough sleep, but they knew he didn’t.

Johnny locked his phone and sighed. The internet wasn’t helpful at all, since he was pretty sure he was not “hopelessly in love with his best friend” or “desperately trying to get out of the friendzone” or even “denying his feelings”, not at all. He just felt like … throwing up at the thought of Taeil dating someone new … well, “new” is a pretty vague word since Taeil had never been in a relationship since he knew Johnny. Actually … he met Johnny when he had a boyfriend but broke up with him after about two months. One month before Johnny started dating Doyoung.

Johnny got up, grabbed his backpack and left the coffee shop, waving Taeil goodbye again. The older looked at him with a comforting smile and kind eyes, as always. Taeil has always been like that. It’s been so long. He didn’t know how life was before he met his friends. It felt like they’ve just been here since forever and they probably wouldn’t leave anytime soon. Even Doyoung, they still managed to stay friends even though it was kind of awkward at the start. Yuta helped them a lot.

It was a 15-minute walk back to the apartment he shared with Taeil. They moved into a bigger one about 3 months ago since Johnny was sick of sleeping in the storeroom, even though Taeil assured him it wasn’t a “storeroom”, it was a regular second bedroom. It absolutely didn’t feel like it, it was way too small and stuffed with loads of Taeil’s useless things. He called Ten while he was walking back.  
“Johnny?” Ten answered, sounding out of breath.  
“Hey Tennie, how’s it going?”, Johnny asked, slowing down his steps to look at the cakes in the display of a newly opened bakery. This part of town was blooming with new stores.  
“Awesome.” Ten said sarcastically. “What are you doing? You sound out of breath.” Johnny asked while thinking about buying a little strawberry pie for Taeil. He would absolutely adore it. The strawberries on top of the pie looked a little like a crown and the little wafer in the middle of it spelled “sweetheart”. No, Taeil wouldn’t want it. He was now his boyfriend’s sweetheart, Johnny had absolutely no right to call him that anymore. It would be hard to drop this habit.  
“I rearranged the living room.” A thud was heard and Ten groaned. “I think I broke my fucking couch.”  
Johnny laughed. “You sure you’re alright?”  
“I am, stop annoying me. Why did you call?” It sounded like Ten dropped himself on the broken couch, groaning even more. “Are we still on for tonight?”  
“As always, of course.” Ten said and this time it sound genuinely annoyed. “Why are you home already anyway? It’s 4pm?”  
“They sent me home.” Ten said and his voice got quiet. “Again?”  
“Yes, again.” Ten sounded harsh and Johnny decided to drop the topic. “Hey, did you … did you know about Taeils … date?” He wasn’t sure how to call it, since Taeil technically didn’t talk about his “boyfriend”, he just mentioned “someone”. There was silence on the other side of the line and Johnny didn’t know how to interpret it.  
“He has a date?” Johnnys eyes narrowed immediately as he continued his walk home, leaving the strawberry pie behind. Ten didn’t sound surprised at all. “You knew it.” “God no, Johnny, I swear I didn’t! I have much more things to worry about than Taeils love life. Don’t get me wrong, I am interested in his life but not THAT invested like you are.” “What does that mean?” now Johnny was the one getting a little too worked up about the topic.  
“What do you mean? It’s just that you’ve always been oddly interested in Taeils, may I add, non-existent love life.” Johnny could almost hear him shrug. “I’m not interested in his love life. He can do whatever the fuck he wants.” “Harsh words, Johnnyboy. You know I only dated you for about 2 seconds in college yet even I noticed how obsessed you were with Taeils ex-boyfriend. And I mean you only knew Taeil for about 2 weeks when you first told him to break up with that asshole.” Johnny bit his lip. His friend wasn’t wrong; he did tell Taeil to break up with that guy. “Because he was obviously not in love with him!” Johnny defended his past self. “Yeah, but you weren’t either. I mean you started dating Doyoung out of the blue and it’s still a mystery to me WHY you did it.” Johnny started walking faster. “Now what the heck does that mean, Ten? You never mentioned it before.” Ten laughed. “Johnny we all thought … well, Jaehyun and I thought you were telling Taeil to break up with the dude because _you_ wanted to date him. Not the dude, I mean Taeil. And when he actually broke up with him, it took you less than a month to wife Doyoung up.” – “I didn’t wife anyone up.”  
Ten started laughing again. “Johnny don’t get mad now. You know what I mean. I think Taeil was also expecting you to ask him out, but you never did. No wonder him and Doyoung didn’t get along.” Johnny took a deep breath and shook his head. “Hold up, you’re getting things mixed up. They became friends super quick.” Ten was silent for a few seconds. “They weren’t. Doyoung was just not telling you and Taeil tried to hide it. He only befriended Doyoung because of you. Thank god it all worked out and they actually got along after a few months.” – “Months?” Johnny asked dumbfounded. “You’re so fucking blind, Johnny Suh!” – “Then why didn’t anybody tell me?!” Johnny was getting pretty angry at the moment, but of course Ten couldn’t tell. Johnny would be lying if he said it didn’t feel good to hear Ten laugh again, even if he was making fun of him. He hadn’t laughed like this in ages.  
“We didn’t tell you because you were so freaking happy and who are we to ruin it? Especially Taeil.” Another thud was heard, following a heart breaking loud meow. “Oh for fucks sake, that damn neighbour’s cat snug in again! I’ll see you tonight!” The line went dead.

Johnny was opening the door to his apartment, still thinking about Tens words. He didn’t know Doyoung and Taeil didn’t get along from the start. They acted so friendly in front of him, Taeil often joining them on their dates. Maybe that’s why Doyoung always felt threatened by him. Taeil followed where Johnny was going. Taeil was always there. Doyoung always asked if he was sure he wanted to date him and not Taeil. He wasn’t wrong, he never thought about Taeil romantically but he also didn’t want him to get involved with someone new. Whenever Taeil made new friends, Johnny was there to get to know them too. Whenever someone started flirting with Taeil, Johnny was there to shoo them away, acting as if he was his boyfriend. He always wanted to be Taeils number one, even though Taeil had always been his number two. Johnny had been and still is a hopeless romantic. Doyoung would laugh at his corny actions and words, but Taeil would let him practice and rant about it. He always looked at him with glowing, sparkly eyes, a soft smile on his face. As if he admired him, and Johnny wanted to bath in that feeling. Taeil never failed to make him feel … special. Johnny shook his head again, trying to get rid of the thoughts and Taeils beautiful and warm eyes.  
When Doyoung met Yuta for the first time, things started to go downhill. Ironically it was at _PURPLE_ , Johnnys safe place. Tens past lover tried to win him back with a corny love song and guitar and obviously it worked. Doyoung was running late but when he arrived, the first person he laid his eyes on wasn’t Johnny, but Yuta. He still remembers the moment. It felt like time stood still, just the two of them looking at each other. It sent shivers down his spine and he knew he hated Yuta for the way Doyoung looked at him. He never looked at him like that, with this longing and passionate look in his eyes.  
Ever since then the fights started and Doyoung was distancing himself. Taeil was there for him, always comforting him and never leaving his side. He said it’s just a phase, Doyoung will get over it. But Johnny knew Doyoung wasn’t his soulmate and he wasn’t going to stay with him. And Johnny, being the hopeless romantic he is, didn’t even try to fix anything. He just let him go, he even went to Osaka with his friends to visit Yuta. That one night he broke down and decided to get a divorce, Taeil was there. He took this crying mess of best friend to the airport and onto the aeroplane back home. He never let go of his hand, making sure he had everything he needed and let him heal in peace. It took a while for Johnnys heart to stop hurting but when it was finally bearable and the tears stopped, Taeil was there to go out with him. To grab a cup of coffee, to take a walk in the park, to ride a bike even though Taeil hated bikes. Taeil was the one picking him up in the middle of the night after his radio broadcasted finished when Doyoung wasn’t there to do it anymore. Even when he had a bad day at work, Taeil made him smile with his bad space jokes and just being himself. Having Taeil around him was everything Johnny ever needed. Everything seemed less painful and more colourful with him. One time their washing machine broke and since Johnny owned more clothes than Taeil did, Taeil had to borrow clothes from him and Johnny swore he had never seen something this adorable. Taeil usually wore oversized things but because he was way shorter than Johnny, the clothes looked even bigger. He had to flip up the edges of his jeans a few times so they wouldn’t hit the floor and he was drowning in his sweaters. He took a lot of pictures of him and then fixed the washing machine the next day. After that day Taeil didn’t stop stealing his clothes and Johnny never bothered to tell him no. It’s not like Johnny was always taking and Taeil was always giving. One night Johnny stayed up till 5am to dye Taeils hair over and over again because they just couldn’t get the shade of red right. One time it was too dark, one time too purple and one time too orange. Johnny didn’t complain, he wanted Taeil to feel good even though he would be bald after this. Taeil had a breakdown in the bathroom, crying while the hair dye was colouring his cheeks red when Johnny came in with the third pack of red hair dye. Johnny calmed him down, covered his hair with the new pack of dye and after 30 more minutes, they had finally reached the right shade of red. Taeil was so exhausted he started crying again.  
The next day, Johnny remembered as he entered his own room to get changed, he took Taeil to the movies. Taeil loved movies like Sharknado or Bait 3D so he always made sure to watch them with him. Johnny hated these horrendous horror disaster movies but Taeil didn’t stop smiling, gasping and laughing through it so of course, Johnny joined him every time. He once talked about this ridiculous genre during one of his broadcast and actually ended up defending it. When Taeil picked him up that night he jumped on his back and thanked him for always being there for him, even though his taste in movies was terrifying. Nobody knew Johnny as well as Taeil did. And nobody knew Taeil was well as Johnny did.

Johnny paid for Taeil’s dream. He took the monthly allowance of his parents to fund Taeil’s coffee shop and continued to pay for it. It was a big secret and nobody knew. Not even Jaehyun. Of course Johnny didn’t have much money left to pay for Jaehyuns and his own first radio broadcast so Doyoung covered the costs. It has always been their biggest issue. Doyoung didn’t know what Johnny was using his money for but payed for his radio broadcast anyway. And Taeil? Taeil was begging Johnny to tell his husband, yet he never did. He knew what Doyoung would say. He knew Doyoung would leave him, he was only waiting for a reason to finally break up. And they did, Johnny thought. In the end they did break up. Taeil let him sleep in his bed, holding him tight while he was crying. Taeil made sure he ate. Taeil made sure he showered. Taeil made sure he still went to work. All this while still running his own business.  
When ournightnight ended and Jaehyun got his own contract as a singer and Johnny as a radio host, things got better. He finally graduated university, finally made his own money and started feeling much better. But his dreams …

The soulmate dreams were still about himself. Himself at PURPLE, himself at his apartment, himself at the supermarket. There was only one point of view that came into question, but Johnny was good in denying obvious things. He was good at hiding. Johnny knew all along, yet he wasn’t ready to face it. And now it was probably too late.

Johnny put on a fresh white shirt, some dark jeans and his sunglasses. He grabbed his keys, put on his nikes and left the apartment.

Johnny > Sweetheart  
_Taeiliiii are you not coming home?_

Sweetheart > Johnny  
_I’ll meet you at the restaurant, I’m picking up Hansol first! :D_

So that was his name, Johnny thought. Hansol. He sighed and didn’t reply to Taeils last message. It was hot, too hot for black jeans but Johnny felt comfortable in them. And he knew he looked good in them, which was the main reason he put them on today. This Hansol guy better get ready for a detailed investigation about his past life, his current life and his future life. If he was the guy Taeil wanted, Johnny made sure to check all the criteria first before giving his ok. He laughed silently. As if Taeil needed his approval.

He arrived at the restaurant, spotting Ten and Jaehyun at their usual table. They already started the barbecue with Ten currently stuffing his mouth with rice when Johnny sat down. “Thank you for waiting guys.” Johnny said and Jaehyun smiled at him, showing his dimples. “Your welcome. How’s your day been?” Johnny looked at him emotionless. “Taeil is bringing his date tonight.” – “So your day has been quite shitty.” Jaehyun assumed, pointing his chopsticks at him. “You need to calm down. It’s just a date. Don’t go all Jacob Black at him.” “Jacob Black?” Ten asked, stopping in his motion. “Yeah. Jacob Black doesn’t get the girl, Edward does. And in this case you’re Jacob and Hansol is Edward.” Johnny furrowed his eyebrows. “You know his name?” – “Taeil told me.” Jaehyun continued grilling the meat and Johnny took a deep breath. “So you all knew about it, except for me?” Ten dropped his spoon and looked at him with big eyes. “ _Of course not, baby_. Now drink up.” He filled a glass with liquid and gave it to Johnny. “You’ll need it.” He smiled thin-lipped and nodded. Johnny took the glass and drank it all at once, when somebody let himself fall on the chair next to him. “Hi guys.” Johnny could see how Taeil let go of the man’s hand to adjust himself on the chair and his mood dropped immediately. Taeils smile was blinding. “This is Hansol.” Johnny stared at him blatantly, not realizing he was supposed to shake his hand. Ten helped him out and grabbed Hansols hand instead. “Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Ten, Taeil has already told me so many things, I’m happy to finally get to know you in real life.” Johnny noticed how Ten was oddly happy today and it made him suspicious. Jaehyun also smiled at Hansol, he even laughed when greeting him. His ears turned red. Something wasn’t right.  
“I’m so sorry, Taeil hasn’t mentioned you at all and everybody seems to know you except for me. That wasn’t really nice of you, Taeil.” Johnny looked at his best friend reproachfully. “I’m so sorry, I wanted to surprise you. Well, to be honest I wanted to wait until … until we knew what we were getting ourselves into.” Taeil looked at Hansol and the blond man took his hand under the table. Johnny could clearly see it. “I’m sure we figured it out by now.” Hansol said, looking at Taeil like he was in love.  
Johnny felt like throwing up.  
“I’m sorry we’re late, we got … caught up.” Taeil giggled, he _giggled_. Hansol joined him and ran a hand through Taeils hair. “You still look a little messy there, sweetheart.” Johnny clenched his hand, the chopsticks in his right hitting the table with a thud as he dropped them. “You alright?” Ten asked him, unbothered as ever before, nibbling on a piece of meat. “I’m alright.” Johnny said slowly. Taeil didn’t even notice. He called him sweetheart. It’s not like Johnny reserved the word for himself. But that was _his_ word. _He_ called Taeil sweetheart, nobody else ever did before. And now this guy comes into his life, calling him sweetheart and fucking him up in the _good_ kind of way and Johnny was already sick of it.  
He hated this Hansol dude.  
During the dinner Johnny concentrated himself more on the liquor right in front of him than the actual conversation. Taeil didn’t touch him once, Johnny didn’t put his arm around his shoulders. They acted like two complete strangers. He listened to Hansol telling Jaehyun and Ten about his job at the local swimming pool, his cats, his little sister, his love for books and his passion for flowers. He’s such a bootlicker, Johnny thought, downing his fourth bottle of alcohol. By now he wasn’t even using the glass in front of him anymore. The worst part of it: he didn’t get drunk. Nothing happened, it was like he was drinking water with the taste of alcohol. Taeil kissed Hansols cheek and Johnny excused himself. This was way too much for his damaged heart. He knew why he was feeling this way and it was driving him insane. He had wasted so many years.  
When he returned to the table, Taeil and Hansol were gone.  
“They went home.” Jaehyun shrugged, picking up the last rice grain on his plate. “They didn’t even say bye.” Johnny was sulking when he sat down again.  
“You’ve been awfully rude towards Hansol.” Ten said, eyeing him annoyed.  
“I was. I can’t stand his ass.” Jaehyun laughed. “Of course you don’t.”  
“Hey Tennie, I thought about your words. You know, what you told me on the phone earlier.” Ten put down his glass of water and looked at him curiously.  
“And?”  
Jaehyun put his arms on the table, chin on his hands, looking at him in the same way Ten did, with a little smile on his face. “You were right. Taeil probably did expect me to ask him out back then.” Ten huffed.  
“Of course I was right.” Johnny nodded. “I’m sorry for being dumb. I’ve wasted so much time and …” – “It worked!” Jaehyun shouted and Ten pocked him between the ribs. “Shut the fuck you fucking dumbass piece of-” – “What worked?” Johnny asked and looked at his friends suspiciously. “I knew something was wrong from the start.” Ten shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. What were you going to say about Taeil?” Johnny took a deep breath. “Guys I’m dumb, like I’m actually one hell of a dumb guy.” Jaehyun beamed at him. “You are, my friend. You really are.” – “Like I- all these years I just-” Ten didn’t let him finish his sentence.  
“You are, fucking dumbass. Now don’t tell us, we know what you want to say. Tell him.”  
And just like that Johnny left Jaehyun and Ten at the table and sprinted out of the restaurant towards his apartment.

Sweat was dripping down his chin when he unlocked the door. He was a romanticist and he’d rather go take a shower first before confronting Taeil but he really had no time to do so since Taeil actually greeted him.  
He was sitting on the couch in the living-room, reading a book looking up when Johnny arrived. “What are you doing here already?” He asked, genuinely looking confused.  
“Look” Johnny said, trying to catch his breath. Taeil got up. “Breath in, calm down first … oh my god you’re sweating! Did you run? Did you run all the way from the restaurant to the apartment?!” Taeil looked at him like he was crazy. Johnnys hair was a mess, his cheeks bright red. Taeil sat him down on the couch and got him a glass of water before sitting down next to him.  
“Look, Taeil – I-” Johnny stopped himself from talking, closed his eyes and breathed in. And out.  
“I don’t want you to date Hansol.” He opened his eyes and met Taeils gaze. His eyes were sparkling with joy. “And why’s that so?” He asked, brushing Johnnys sweaty hair out of his forehead. “He doesn’t love you.” Johnny said, as if it was the most obvious thing on earth. “What makes you so sure about it?” Taeils voice was as calm as ever and it drove Johnny insane. “Shouldn’t you, like, defend him?” He asked, swatting away his hand. Taeil smiled. “Why should I?” – “Because he’s your stupid boyfriend.” Taeil giggled again and Johnny almost thought he was drunk. “Now answer me. Why doesn’t he love me?”  
Johnny gulped. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. For once in his life, he needed to be brave. “Because I love you.”  
He thought Taeil was going to curse at him. He thought he was going to hit him, screaming, maybe even crying. But he didn’t. He just beamed at him, watery eyes looking at him full of adoration and love. “Yuta was right.” Taeil wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “Yuta was right, he’s a freaking genius.” If Johnny thought he was breathless before, he was almost dying now. “Sweetheart you- I can’t-” he stuttered, not being able to breath in. Taeils grip loosened but he didn’t back away. He leaned his forehead against Johnny’s and bit his lip.  
“You’re so fucking dumb, Johnny Suh. I’ve waited so many years for this and all it took was some random dude pretending to be my boyfriend for you to finally realize.” Johnny looked into his eyes and didn’t understand anything. Also he couldn’t stop thinking about his own smell, which was probably not the right thing to do right now.  
“You – you did what? He wasn’t – he isn’t your crush? Or date or whatever?” Taeil shook his head and sat back down on the couch, his hands immediately catching Johnny’s. “He never was and he never will be. It was Yutas idea. Hansol is actually his colleague at work and I was complaining again the other day about you not realizing _shit_ so Yuta came up with it.” Johnny looked at him, speechless. “He asked Hansol if he wanted to help us and he said yes. So I took him to this fake date tonight and it worked.”  
_It worked_ … Johnny thought about Jaehyuns words. “They knew. Jaehyun and Ten knew.”  
Taeil nodded. “Of course they knew.” – “I fucking hate Yuta, that bastard is making my life much worse than It already is.” he groaned, “And here I was, thinking you just decided to get rid of me and-” – “I never tried to get rid of you. But I had to do something, I was so … frustrated and no matter what I did, you didn’t seem to notice anything. Honey, I made cupcakes with your name on it for you, I named a cake at _PURPLE_ _Johnny,_ I made sure to always play your favourite music at the coffee shop, goddammit Johnny, I pick you up every single night after work and you just” Taeil shrugged and looked at him breathless. “You didn’t notice anything.”  
Johnny looked at Taeil. “I did. I thought you did it because I was your best friend. I didn’t realize you were actually my …” he stopped.  
“I’m your soulmate.” Taeil said and he almost sounded proud. Johnny smiled. “You are. I’m so sorry Taeil, I was just … you’re my best friend and I never thought you could be more until … until today. As soon as you told me about Hansol, I was ready to scare him away. And when he called you sweetheart I was about to beat him up. I would’ve done it, you know me.”  
Taeil laughed. “No doubt about it.”  
Johnny pulled his hands away and placed them on each side of Taeils face. “I’m so sorry, Taeil. I am so incredibly sorry, I put you through all of this, all these years and-” – “Shut up.” Taeil said, looking at him while Johnny was squishing his cheeks. Johnny raised his eyebrows. “Just fucking kiss me already, I’ve been waiting for 5 years.”  
There was nothing he liked doing better than that.

It was 2am, their bodies interwoven on the couch. Taeil was lying on his chest and Johnny was caressing his hair, listening to his breath.  
“Taeil?” Johnny whispered. “Sweetheart? Are you awake?”  
Taeil lifted his head up, groaning. “What do you want? Not even my boyfriend is allowed to wake me up in the middle of the night.” Johnny smiled and bit his lip. “Look, I- I’ve said I loved you and I still do but you didn’t and I-” – “That’s what has been keeping you up until 6am?” – “It’s 2am, quit being dramatic.”  
Taeil lifted a hand and placed it on Johnnys cheek. “Johnny. I’ve been loving you for five years and I will love you for the rest of my life. I love you with my whole heart. To the moon and back-” – “That’s not really far, since you’re the moon.” Taeil stopped and looked like he wanted to murder him.  
“I love you. A lot.” He pinched his cheeks and Johnny laughed. “I love you too. I love you to the moon and back, since you being close to me is all I will ever need. You’re my moon.”

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to mint for always listening to me ranting about my au ideas and supporting every single bit since the start!!! love you!!!


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